CITY FOCUS by Kelly Skeen ery few art communities have the lifespan and in Europe, active in Paris during the rise of impressionism significance of Taos, New Mexico. The historic and highly connected in New York’s gallery scene, these V town, nestled in the shadows of the Sangre de Cristo artists collectively began seeking subjects to paint that Mountains, has been a haven for artists since the early 19th were uniquely American. Breaking from conventional century and its romantic reputation continues today. Artists Eastern painting styles, the TSA fostered what they felt to migrate to Taos for the same reasons the Pueblo Indians be the “new American art.” The Southwest landscape and settled there long before: the light, the land and the quiet Native culture dominated the subject matter for these early vastness of the southwest. From early Taos founders to artists who were revolutionary for their time not only for trendsetting Taos Moderns, the diversified community served introducing a new, locally inspired color palette, but for as an escape and a rebellion from established coastal art softening the Wild West mentality of American art. “Up scenes and busy city centers. The same sentiments exist until that point, the American identity was remembered today as creative voices carry on the legacy of the area’s for its dramatic cowboy and Indian motif,” says Davison rich art history with independent perspectives. These Koenig, executive director and curator of the Couse-Sharp perspectives, however, are derived from Taos’ unchanged Historic Site in Taos. “The TSA had a more romanticized bohemian attitude and surrounding natural beauty that vision. They depicted Natives in their daily lives, which initially exhilarated Taos’s establishing artists. were peaceful, introspective and family focused. Yes, TSA The Taos Society of Artists (TSA) defined the first era members were Western artists depicting the West, but they of the Taos art colony in the early 1900s as a formalized never saw themselves as that. They were academically group of romantic academic painters. Traditionally trained trained eastern artists depicting America.” 79 79 TaosIntro_1.indd 79 3/29/18 11:34 AM CITY FOCUS E. Irving Couse and Joseph Henry Sharp were the to live in or visit Taos during this time. Instrumental patrons founding members of the TSA; Koening gives a supremely like Mabel Dodge Luhan were also champions of Taos knowledgeable tour of both artists’ homes and studios, only Modernism, cultivating social circles that attracted artists, two blocks from the Taos plaza, that will take you back writers and collectors to the area. Taos remained a modern in time to the height of their creative period and beyond. art mecca and inner-coastal hub well into the abstract The Taos Art Museum is another community gem with an expressionist movement, attracting even more artists from exceptional collection of work by Taos founders extending New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. from Couse and Sharp to Ernest Blumenschein, Bert Phillips The Harwood Museum of Art, which in its early years and more, exhibited in the historic and exquisite home of served as the town library, came into its own as a collecting Russian Taos painter Nicolai Fechin. institution during the height of the modernist movement. As The next great wave of artists to arrive in Taos were known a result, it boasts one of the largest Taos Modern collections as the Taos Moderns, who began to trickle into the area in in the country in addition to dedicated early Taos, Native the late 1930s and took hold from the 1940s to 1970s. and Hispanic art collections. The Harwood continues to be Artists like Agnes Martin, Andrew Dasburg, Louis Ribak and a relevant contemporary institution hosting exhibitions for Beatrice Mandelman were just a few influential modernists current artists who are connected to the region. Opening 2 5 9 7 8 3 13 12 6 4 11 1 10 MAP DATA ©2018 GOOGLE GALLERY LISTING ALSO IN TAOS: 1 COUSE-SHARP HISTORIC SITE 8 RON LARIMORE FINE ART 203 FINE ART FARAHNHEIGHT GALLERY 2 JONES WALKER OF TAOS 9 TAOS BLUE (575) 751-1262, www.203f neart.com (575) 751-4278, www.farahnheight.com 3 LA DOÑA LUZ INN 1 0 TAOS MESA BREWING THE LOVE APPLE TAOS ART MUSEUM 4 ÓRALE GALLERY TAP ROOM (575) 751-0050, www.theloveapple.net (575) 758-2690, www.taosartmuseum.org 5 PARSONS FINE ART 11 THE HARWOOD MUSEUM 6 PARSONS GALLERY OF THE WEST 1 2 TOTAL ARTS GALLERY 7 READ LOCKHART GALLERY 1 3 WILDER NIGHTINGALE 80 TaosIntro_1.indd 80 3/29/18 11:34 AM in June is a major exhibition for Larry Bell, a prolific and the future. The newer gallery focuses on current, nationally respected abstract artist from the postwar period who has recognized Western painters who are directly influenced lived and worked in Taos since the 1970s. by early Taos artists. Jerry Jordan, for example, is a locally It’s clear that Taos has an abundant, colorful past with based painter who emboldens TSA-style imagery with thick deep art historical relevance. But what about today’s brushwork and chaotic color palettes. “The history of Taos artists and galleries? Throughout Taos history, artists have is art and it’s important that people know that history,” says surprisingly arrived on the scene with little to no knowledge Ashley Rolshoven, Parsons’ daughter who now directs both of preceding art movements. Most of the Taos Moderns galleries. “But there’s a freshness here too and a younger were unaware of the pioneering TSA but were similarly generation who is moving things forward.” drawn to Taos for its bohemian vibe and remote location, Gregory Farah is another young Taos gallery director unencumbered by influences from larger art centers. “Taos who is enlivening the community through the initiatives has always had its own rhythm,” says 203 Fine Art director of FaraHNHeight Gallery, which provides a platform Eric Andrews, whose gallery deals in well-known early for yet another style of art that characterizes the region. modernist to contemporary art. “Artists don’t necessarily FaraHNHeight’s focus is contemporary Native art from come here to be influenced by others, they come here to be past to present. The gallery deals respected names like influenced by nature and light. The modernists were drawn Fritz Scholder, R. C. Gorman and T. C. Cannon alongside here for the same reason as the representational painters, emerging artists from Navajo country, the Taos Pueblo and they just depicted and emoted it in a particular way.” promising grads from the Institute of American Indian Arts. This theme continues today, as artists are continuously Farah agrees that Taos is alive with independent visions, but attracted to this eccentric northern New Mexico community. artists aren’t ignoring those who have come before them. However, while many current artists and galleries are “The young artists, in general, have a sense of that legacy and operating independently of their predecessors, there are history,” he says. “But the beauty of Taos is that it’s always those who retain the knowledge of Taos’ rich history and been a place of little judgment or confinement. It’s just like work to keep that legacy alive. the Taos Moderns coming out of the shadows of early 1900 Parsons Fine Art and its second location, Parsons Gallery legends; it’s not that artists think earlier work isn’t important, of the West, is a prime example of preserving Taos heritage but they don’t feel the need to conform to it either.” with a fresh perspective. Parsons Fine Art is traditional Taos; it Regardless of the who’s who from its past, the Taos art was founded in 1992 by Robert Parsons as a hub for early Taos community continues to be a haven for a diversified group of art and continues to exhibit and deal works by Couse, Sharp, creative and adventurous voices seeking a culturally fulfilling, Oscar Berninghaus, Walter Ufer and other TSA members and awe-inspiring and freeing atmosphere in which to thrive. Taos founders. Parsons Gallery of the West opened in 2006 in the historical studio of Victor Higgins, a progressive member Other notable Taos galleries and artists include Total Arts of the TSA who overlapped with incoming Moderns. The Gallery, Jones Walker of Taos, Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, spirit of Parsons Gallery of the West is similarly aligned with Read Lockhart Gallery, Taos Blue, Órale Gallery and Ron Higgins’ mindset: steeped in tradition while looking toward Larimore, among others. EAT SIP STAY THE LOVE APPLE TAOS MESA BREWING LA DOÑA LUZ INN, The Love Apple is housed in an elegantly For an adventurous outing, head to the HISTORIC BED & BREAKFAST rustic and historic chapel built in the 1800s “Mothership” about 8 miles from town for a Steps from the downtown plaza and a and features locally sourced menu items in a mountainous backdrop to local beer, tacos destination in itself, La Doña Luz is the true romantic atmosphere. The tamale and trout and music on indoor and outdoor stages. Taos experience. Rooms are decorated with are staples on a seasonally rotating menu for Built with salvaged materials and sustainable folk art murals, Spanish colonial furniture, good reason. Check out their new breakfast design, the quirky taproom architecture painted kiva fireplaces and original Taos and lunch spot on the plaza, Manzanita mirrors the infamous earthships just down the paintings and artifacts. Book the Rainbow Market, which has a similar aesthetic and road. For draft favorites and wood fired pizza, Room for a private rooftop hot tub that farm-to-table menu. check out the Taos Tap Room downtown.